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Wolfgang Pauli 1900 to 1930: His Early Physics in Jungian Perspective

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Wolfgang Pauli 1900 to 1930: His Early Physics in Jungian Perspective Wolfgang Pauli 1900 to 1930: His Early Physics in Jungian Perspective A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota by John Richard Gustafson In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Advisor: Roger H. Stuewer Minneapolis, Minnesota July 2004 i © John Richard Gustafson 2004 ii To my father and mother Rudy and Aune Gustafson iii Abstract Wolfgang Pauli's philosophy and physics were intertwined. His philosophy was a variety of Platonism, in which Pauli’s affiliation with Carl Jung formed an integral part, but Pauli’s philosophical explorations in physics appeared before he met Jung. Jung validated Pauli’s psycho-philosophical perspective. Thus, the roots of Pauli’s physics and philosophy are important in the history of modern physics. In his early physics, Pauli attempted to ground his theoretical physics in positivism. He then began instead to trust his intuitive visualizations of entities that formed an underlying reality to the sensible physical world. These visualizations included holistic kernels of mathematical-physical entities that later became for him synonymous with Jung’s mandalas. I have connected Pauli’s visualization patterns in physics during the period 1900 to 1930 to the psychological philosophy of Jung and displayed some examples of Pauli’s creativity in the development of quantum mechanics. By looking at Pauli's early physics and philosophy, we gain insight into Pauli’s contributions to quantum mechanics. His exclusion principle, his influence on Werner Heisenberg in the formulation of matrix mechanics, his emphasis on firm logical and empirical foundations, his creativity in formulating electron spinors, his neutrino hypothesis, and his dialogues with other quantum physicists, all point to Pauli being the dominant genius in the development of quantum theory. Because Pauli was in a difficult individuation process during his early years, his own writings on philosophy tend to be sparse and often contradictory. My analysis of Pauli’s physics and philosophy is based upon published and unpublished sources, and Pauli’s later reflections. A pattern has emerged. Pauli changed his mind from relying on high rationality and empiricism, to valuing intuitive metaphysical visualizations. This coupled with disturbing events in his life precipitated a breakdown and led Pauli to seek treatment at the Jung Clinic. Pauli’s psychological tension diminished after 1932. His physics consistently involved symmetry and invariants. His philosophy allied with Jung’s resembled a Platonism of combined psyche and physics. Pauli sought a rational unification and foundation for his philosophy, but that goal was cut short by his untimely death at the age of 58. iv Acknowledgements This dissertation is the product of a long and arduous journey. I could not have written it without the contributions of many people. Dennis Gustafson encouraged me to love life and live it, and his spirit has found its way into this dissertaion. Daniel Gustafson was a wonderful role model for me, and awakened in me my love of physics. The American Philosophical Society kindly granted me permission to include significant excerpts from Thomas S. Kuhn's 1963 interview of Werner Heisenberg. The staff of the Niels Bohr Library assisted me in locating several important documents. Erika Eberhardt helped me with translations of German articles, and also introduced me to Jungian psychology. Karl von Meyenn provided me important information about Wolfgang Pauli's early education. The faculty and staff of the University of Minnesota's Program in the History of Science and Technology made this whole adventure possible. Members of my committee-- Benjamin F. Bayman, John M. Eyler, James H. Fetzer, Michel H.P. Janssen, Alan E. Shapiro, and Roger H. Stuewer--provided numerous important suggestions. My friends and family were understanding of my numerous absences from important activities and they continued to support my work. I am deeply grateful to the above people and organizations. Any errors and shortcomings, of course, are all mine. My advisor, Roger H. Stuewer, needs to be thanked and recognized in a special way. He inspired me to see joy in the history of physics. He provided me with countless insights and clarifications of important concepts. He has a special way of demanding intellectual rigor while encouraging creativity. Using his editorial skill, he is directly responsible for transforming my ramblings into cogent paragraphs. He continued with me long after he had formally retired from the University of Minnesota. I am indebted to Roger. I thank you. My wife Karen Johnson Gustafson knew I needed to do this and gave me the love and encouragement to bring this dissertation, and me along with it, into the light. I continue beyond measure to be indebted, in awe, and in love with this incredible woman. Thank you, Karen. v Table of Contents Abstract Page iii Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents v Chapter 1. Introduction 1 Chapter 2. The Pauli Family in Prague and Vienna 22 Chapter 3. Pauli’s Adolescence and Gymnasium Education, 1913-1918 53 Chapter 4. Pauli’s University Education in Munich, 1918-1921 76 Chapter 5. The Pauli Verbot, 1921-1925 109 Chapter 6. Electron Spin, Spinors, and Matrix Mechanics, 1925-1927 136 Chapter 7. The Neutrino Hypothesis, 1928-1930 159 Chapter 8. Conclusions 178 Appendix. Pauli Timeline 197 Bibliography 204 Chapter I: Introduction Wolfgang Pauli: Physics and Psychology To understand the history of quantum mechanics, it is essential for the historian to understand Wolfgang Pauli’s role in that history through his unique contributions to its physics. That requires the historian to understand Pauli’s personality and philosophy. That, in turn, requires the historian to understand Pauli’s receptivity to Carl Jung’s psychological philosophy. This dissertation is my attempt to provide such a multifaceted understanding. As a heuristic model, I will portray Pauli as having a dual personality type that involved a strong rational side--the side that was public to his physicist colleagues, and a strong intuitive side--the side he largely kept shielded from view except to his Jungian colleagues. In Pauli, we see a dynamic playing out internally within his psyche between his two personality sides, and leading to the core of the radically new and important theory of quantum mechanics. In the course of my study of Pauli, his attraction to Jungian psychology, problematic to physicists, has become less spooky; Pauli received therapeutic help from Jung and naturally then became interested in his psychology. Jung did hit the mark in Pauli, and thus Pauli's philosophical interests that drew him to the core of quantum mechanics are deeply serious and important to a full understanding of the history of this enigmatic physical theory. Let me expand on why I find Pauli's story so fascinating. Wolfgang Pauli's name appears repeatedly in the history of modern physics. His name, attached to the exclusion principle, permeates texts in chemistry and atomic physics. His principle also has a mysterious air, coming seemingly out of nowhere to explain atomic phenomena with little further call for justification. How did it arise? Where in a rational trail of history does it fit? What were the circumstances that led Pauli to discover it? Is the principle a numerological recipe from the old quantum theory, or is it a mathematical insight whose roots lie in the new quantum mechanics? If the exclusion principle arose from Pauli’s discovery of a strange, classically nondescribable two- valuedness of the electron, then why did Pauli resist the idea of electron spin? When the names of the founders of matrix quantum mechanics are mentioned, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, and Niels Bohr come to mind with an associated accomplishment. Heisenberg created matrix mechanics, Born refined matrix mathematics and proposed a statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics, and Bohr argued for his philosophical perspective of complementarity. Pauli’s name, by contrast, is inseparable from the history of matrix mechanics, but no clearly unique role for Pauli comes easily to mind beyond that of his confusing exclusion principle. In the literature that surrounds the history of quantum mechanics, the inner circle of quantum theorists, the cognoscenti, rave about Pauli, yet his name is seldom mentioned in more public assessments. Why was he so indispensable to the formation of quantum mechanics yet so mysterious? Why did it take until 1945 for Pauli to be recognized with a Nobel Prize? Outside of modern physics, Wolfgang Pauli’s name appears again, this time in discussions of the mystical psychology of Carl Jung. Pauli later was a colleague of Jung's in Zurich. When did this relationship start? What was the nature of their collaboration? How did the highly rational physicist Pauli come to be associated with the mystical psychologist Jung? Can one see in Pauli’s physics any relationship to Jung’s psychology? Did Jung influence Pauli’s physics, and if so what are examples of that influence? Why do physicists seem not to know much about Pauli’s relationship to Jung? These questions came early to my mind as I became attracted to the personality of Wolfgang Pauli. In some initial reading of the literature where Pauli’s name appears, stories surfaced of emotional breakdown, divorce, his mother’s suicide, his sex life, his excessive drinking, his biting sarcasm, the secretive nature of his philosophical interests, his spouse’s refusal to authorize his biographies, and so on. Here was too much temptation for me as a historian of modern physics to resist. The first startling and affirming break in my research on Pauli occurred when I read Thomas S. Kuhn’s 1963 interview of Werner Heisenberg. I discovered here pointed quotations by Heisenberg, a member of the quantum-theoretical cognoscenti, and a respected firsthand observer and friend of Pauli.
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